"Pardieu! And is that the accident you were going to tell me about?"
"Oh yes! I did not make the same reflection you have done. I said to myself: 'Since my feet have entered my boots ten times, there is no reason why they should not go in an eleventh.'"
"Allow me to tell you, my dear Porthos, that, on this occasion, you failed in your logic."
"In short, then, they placed me opposite to a part of the room which was partitioned; I tried to get my boot on; I pulled it with my hands, I pushed with all the strength of the muscles of my leg, making the most unheard-of efforts, when suddenly, the two tags of my boot remained in my hands, and my foot struck out like a catapult."
"Catapult! how learned you are in fortifications, dear Porthos."
"My foot darted out like a catapult, and came against the partition, which it broke in; I really thought that, like Samson, I had demolished the temple. And the number of pictures, the quantity of china, vases of flowers, carpets, and window-poles, which fell down was really wonderful."
"Indeed!"
"Without reckoning that, on the other side of the partition, was a small table laden with porcelain—"
"Which you knocked over?"
"Which I dashed to the other side of the room," said Porthos, laughing.